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Man loses nearly $3,000 in IRS scam

on April 16, 2014

A 68-year-old Darien resident lost nearly $3,000 believing he owed the Internal Revenue Service for back taxes, according to police.

The man received a phone call at 10 a.m. April 9 from a number with a 202 prefix. The caller, who had a heavy Indian accent and identified himself as "Nick Ray," told the victim he owed thousands to the IRS and that he would be arrested if he didn't immediately pay, the report stated.

Afraid, the victim told police he did as the caller asked and sent three Green Dot MoneyPak cards with values of $882, $928 and $987, according to the report. Once they were loaded, the victim told the caller the account numbers to obtain the money.

After the victim provided the transaction information, he realized he had been targeted in a scam and called police, according to the report.

While the victim was speaking with police, "Nick Ray" called again. The officer answered the phone and asked if Ray was from the IRS, to which he said yes. The officer then asked the caller to identify himself, which he refused. After the officer asked the caller to identify himself several times, the caller refused, cursed and hung up.